Puma 4x4 Cosworth

[moondustka]

Correct Sinisa. All aluminium as an oxide film and this melts at just under 2000 degrees C and this is where the problem lies because the aluminium you're wanting to weld melts at 650 degrees C and this is why you need an inverter machine with AC as this is what does the 'cleaning'.

This site here has an awful lot of helpful information (not just for aluminium):

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/tig-welding-aluminum.html

 

[yippeekiay]

Long long time since I did any welding with Aluminium but what I do remember was I didn't like it at all. Was converting new rigids into car transporters years ago and a lot of aluminium welding was needed for the ramps etc. God I hated welding those!!
I was doing it with MIG which I'm pretty damn competent but was still a bitch.
Always wanted to try TIG but over all my years I somehow never got round to it.
Looks like a decent enough job you both have done which will only get better :grin:

 

[McCloud 85]

Update time..

With the reservoir modified to suit the install I moved my attentions onto the master cylinder mount. This has seen better days and after all the years of brake fluid spilling out, it needed some paint. I noticed however the throttle cable wouldn't sit home because the mount had been made too large so set about taking the corner away to make room and clean the area up quickly.





With the bay full it was difficult getting the welder in there, I also forget just how thin fords metal is sometimes. However after some trouble and some repairs I got the desired result. I'm not 100% happy but will be fine for now. Will spend some more time on it when a full shell restoration is done.






With a bit of sealer and paint on it the area has come up ok. Again at some point will neaten it all up at a later date.

Need to get a new gasket for future use for the master cylinder. Would like to know where you can get the material from or something similar so if anyone knows and could let me know that would be greatly appreciated!



On a separate note this had to come back out again and be replaced...



My attempt at re-sealing my old rack was a waste of effort.. After around 15-20 odds miles it tarted leaking on the drivers side this time.. I think I know what happened but at this stage I couldn't be bothered and did what I should have done the first time around and bought a reconditioned rack. So set about getting that fitted and hopefully now this problem will go away for good!

I did find the patience to give it a quick paint before it went in though



So with that task dealt with.. I moved back onto getting the brake system back together




Decided to change the high pressure line on the brake pump




Also fitted a blanking plug to the pressure switch in the front that's no longer needed



Before I filled up with brake fluid I changed all the ends on the callipers - the rears were knackered!






All new stainless steel fittings this time!



With that done at all four corners it was time to fill up and bleed the brakes, which to my annoyance made me realise that this fitting on the high pressure line was not going to seal..




So the simplest option was to replace with a trusty banjo fitting and job done. It's actually probably what I should have used in the first place as it fits much better!



With that all done and tested I bolted everything back up and finished the job




Decided to do some little jobs on the car while I had a little time

The air filter seemed to be moving around too much, generally bouncing up and down. So made a bracket to hold it in place..



The plates on the front of the bay had seen better days and needed changing for various reasons. Some plates had been made which I got with the car so set about changing them.




But in the end I settled for this option and flattened out the original one



Also gave the back wheels a good clean





That's it for now, will get some more up soon.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Wild E. Coyote]

Thanks for looking? Are you serious? I can't take my eyes off! :wink:

 

[McCloud 85]

[post]348653[/post] Thanks for looking? Are you serious? I can't take my eyes off! :wink:

Lol - well i appreciate people spending the time to look through!

 

[slayllian]

Love this thread, lots of lovely engineering! I love engineering! Awesome car

 

[McCloud 85]

[post]349820[/post] Love this thread, lots of lovely engineering! I love engineering! Awesome car

Thanks very much. Will try and get an update soon. Been fabricating a new fuel tank for it.

 

[McCloud 85]

Little update

Decided to re-do the fan wiring whilst I was doing the brake reservoir, as it wasn't looking in great shapes and the relays in the fuse box didn't give me much confidence. It was one of the areas I left untouched when I did all the repairs and alterations last year.

Old wiring






Poor dry joint


New plugs and relays ordered (bottom ones in the pic are for the speed sensor)


New relay and fuse box wiring installed


New plug from car wiring to fan wiring installed all onto new cable runs


Now this was a fascinating find - my fans have always been loud and I just figured they were old ford fans and so that's how they were. I also never really measured how good they were or even how much air they were pulling through. When I found this it looks like the pins have been played about with.. And they had been. They were wired backwards. Red was not positive and black was not negative. When I reversed them and used the black as the positive the fans became much quieter, smoother and pulled 3 times as much air through. So no idea what happened here over the years but this is the way I fitted the new plug and he fans work perfectly now.




All fitted back up and plugged together


Thanks for looking

 

[g-whizz]

If I could have one thing for Xmas it wouldn't be the car, it'd be the skills on display in this thread...
I'd just wait then for next Christmas to ask for the car :grin:

 

[yippeekiay]

Input, input, need more input!!

 

[Wild E. Coyote]

:clap:
Nothing more to add, really

 

[grayfox]

[post]350113[/post] If I could have one thing for Xmas it wouldn't be the car, it'd be the skills on display in this thread...
I'd just wait then for next Christmas to ask for the car :grin:

So True!

 

[McCloud 85]

Long overdue an update on this, so I thought I'd share the fuel tank..

The aim was to tank it off and repair and work out why I could only use 2/3 of the tank before I had fuel starvation. That's also after not being able to fill it to the brim as it would leak all over the petrol station forecourt.

Few shots of it on the car - this is the side facing the front of the car



State of the tank wiring - I had connected on to the existing cables last year and left a coil of new cable ready to take straight to the pump



Off the car and the realisation that this was a mess and needed to to binned! Exhaust rubbers used to space the tank of the boot floor.



Sender unit fitted to the top and I'm guessing this seal had failed



This I'm assuming was used as the breather pipe - without any one way valve so this must be also where fuel poured out of



Pump feed pipe and some sort of pump bracket, return pipe also was slightly kinked by the rear diff support bar across the boot floor



A rivet was left in where the old spare wheel holder bracket was. Because the fuel tank was not held in very well at all it had been rubbing against this and was only a matter of time before the tank had another leak



Poor repair done on another hole I found on the tank




This was the tank strap - that really only stopped the tank dropping - it's other means of attachment to the car was the fact that it was wedged between the rear diff support bar and the back bumper....



Few pics of the boot floor, you can see someone has been out with their hammer again and dished the boot floor up to clear the sender unit plugs and pipes...




So curiosity for the better of me now and I wanted to see just how bad inside this tank was and why I couldn't use the last third of fuel due to getting starvation issues, and here it is..








I couldn't believe how bad this was.. Looks like a child made it, the bit on the side of the main tank was made using chequer plate aluminium! I know metal is metal but it's just another example of using anything that was lyying around rather than using the right materials. Although the tank had baffles they didn't have enough holes in them to let fuel in which is why once the fuel was down to the top of the baffles the fuel wasn't getting in quick enough giving me the starvation issues. The swirl pot was something and nothing and was bodged in from I'm guessing a manufacturers tank.

So with that in the way that is.. It's gone in the bin, only the sender unit will be taken out and cleaned up ready to be fitted to a new tank better made for the job.

Watch this space!

 

[Wild E. Coyote]

I don't doubt for a second you will make it properly this time!

 

[McCloud 85]

[post]351933[/post] I don't doubt for a second you will make it properly this time!

What we've ended up with is a world apart from what we took off!

 

[Wild E. Coyote]

Haven't doubted for a second!

BUT, TBH to the people who did the conversion, we should always keep in mind that this car was put together (we have a word in Croatian for such jobs, sklepati, meaning just put together with least effort possible to last the minimum ammount of time) just for show purposes and not to be used as a regular car...

That is why I adore this thread and the effort (not to mention time and money) you are putting into this car to make it right!

 

[TGPlayer1]

[post]351939[/post] Haven't doubted for a second!

BUT, TBH to the people who did the conversion, we should always keep in mind that this car was put together (we have a word in Croatian for such jobs, sklepati, meaning just put together with least effort possible to last the minimum ammount of time) just for show purposes and not to be used as a regular car...

That is why I adore this thread and the effort (not to mention time and money) you are putting into this car to make it right!

We have a phrase for that - "Made In Britain"

The ''it'll do'' nature of lazy manufacturing is to blame and why the industry as a whole went down the shitter.

 

[McCloud 85]

[post]351942[/post]

[post]351939[/post] Haven't doubted for a second!

BUT, TBH to the people who did the conversion, we should always keep in mind that this car was put together (we have a word in Croatian for such jobs, sklepati, meaning just put together with least effort possible to last the minimum ammount of time) just for show purposes and not to be used as a regular car...

That is why I adore this thread and the effort (not to mention time and money) you are putting into this car to make it right!

We have a phrase for that - "Made In Britain"

The ''it'll do'' nature of lazy manufacturing is to blame and why the industry as a whole went down the shitter.

That tank was bad even just for shows, it wasn't designed by any means!

It is a shame we don't do manufacturing better anymore, although it is pleasant when you find a decent local engineering shop that still takes pride in what it does.

 

[tuonokid]

Hi Dan
You and Ben are both doing a fantastic job on your cars. It's good to see how much attention to detail you're paying to both your projects, well done!
Barry

 

[moondustka]

Thanks Barry.

The fuel tank is done and on the car, being used.... Errr, such slow updates